Jack Grinner
Jack Grinner is the nickname of the Smiling Man, AKA the Tall Man, AKA the Grinning Man, AKA the Watcher. He is an entity of unknown type which has consistently been recorded throughout history as a bringer of pain, sorrow, and especially fear. He seems to prefer women, and his assaults, which are usually drawn out over a period of days, weeks, months, or even years in some cases, almost always end with the death of the victim. Origin The origin of the Smiling Man is unknown. One theory, however, insists that he is the active force (the Unholy Spirit, so to speak) of the Horror Ahtunowhiho. It is believed that The One Who Dwells Below, who once was powerful and ruled over the Plains Tribes with fear of the darkness and death that lurks in shadow, built up so much anger at mankind over the many years he lie dormant and weak that this hatred established itself into an insane entity obsessed with making people suffer for no longer being afraid of him. Appearance The Smiling Man appears as an extremely tall humanoid, so tall in fact that he needs to bend over to fit inside a regular room. His waist is normally very close to the ceiling, and he bends at an extreme angle to see his prey. He has lived in darkness so long (or so they say) that he must get very close to his victims in order to see them clearly. He appears to have no arms, although people have reported that if he needs to manipulate something then unusually long arms and fingers will manifest out of thin air (often more than two of them). He seems to be made out of solid shadow, and is sometimes fuzzy around the edges like a shadow, although his bright red eyes and broad, smiling mouth are very clear. Abilities Until the Smiling Man has built up enough power from devouring the fear he causes his victims, he normally appears as a solid mass of shadow that hides in corners and under trees. In this form, he can move at will and merge with other shadows. As he gets more powerful, the Smiling Man will penetrate through this cloud of shadow like a portal, looking around with his head and shoulders protruding into the world. The Smiling Man has the Hound ability, and will always know exactly where his prey is hiding, even if they are separated by thousands of miles. He also seems to have an innate knowledge of family lineage, and will often haunt family members of those he has taken as a victim. The Smiling Man doesn't seem to have any offensive abilities. He tends to prefer terrifying people with his very presence, and driving them insane. Rather than killing his prey outright, he chooses to hound them into accidents or suicide. Wherever the Smiling Man goes, there seem to be an abundance of other shadowy entities such as Shades, Ghouls, and Barghests. It is not known if the Smiling Man has the ability to summon and control them or if these terrible creatures are simply drawn to him. It is also unknown whether there are more than one Smiling Men or if he also has the capability of creating duplicates of himself, but there have been reports of him appearing at the same time in places separated by thousands of miles. Modus Operandi The Smiling Man will often come upon his prey simply by chance. In many cases, it has been reported that he will actually choose his victims in passing if they happen to see him first. It is possible that this is due to a limitation of the Smiling Man, that he can only haunt those who have seen him. He will then hound the victim, slowly building up power as he causes them to be afraid of their own shadow, turning to look over their shoulder every time they hear a noise, until he is strong enough to begin to appear to them physically. He is not known to speak, although his victims often hear voices telling them to do horrible things to themselves or others. Once he is strong enough to appear in complete physical form, he will begin to appear to them as often as he can, revealing himself everywhere they turn, often standing there bent over and staring deep into their very souls until they can no longer take it. At this stage, they often commit suicide. However, if the Smiling Man can, he keeps them on the verge of this for as long as possible, taking pleasure in their terror. He will also attempt to reveal himself to their closest family and friends so that he can haunt and destroy them as well. In many cases, he does this more quickly, as it causes his primary victim great suffering which he gains further pleasure and power from. Finally, when he tires from the game, he will begin to haunt his target constantly, never leaving them, constantly there, always watching, always smiling, until they commit suicide, die of a heart attack, or have an accident. It seems as though the Smiling Man prefers to haunt and kill women. Although some people believe that he just finds the taste of their terror and despair to be sweeter, the prevailing theory ties in to his connection with Ahtunowhiho. It is believed that he is angry at mankind for driving him into the shadows with their discoveries of fire and electricity and is attempting to wipe out the human race by destroying anyone capable of bearing children. In many recorded cases, his victims have been pregnant women or young female children, or women who have already had children. History It is believed that the Grinning Man has been around since time immemorial, and is partly responsible for the natural fear that mankind has toward the dark. Some cave art discovered in France dating back to Neolithic times show a tall, dark figure with no arms (and in some cases antlers, although these are not normally associated with him today) watching the rest of the painted scene. This has led to yet another disturbing theory regarding the Smiling Man... that the untold eons spent alone and angry in the shadows have driven him to madness, hence the lack of his trademark smile in more modern depictions. Although it isn't always visible in many paintings (although some paintings have been discovered which show him outright, such as Matisse's 1907 Blue Nude, which some people believe depict him coming up behind the bed, and Edvard Munch's The Scream, which shows not one but two tall, dark figures watching the titular character), some paintings by extraordinary artists have been shown to reveal the figure of a tall, dark figure with a maddeningly wide and toothy grin when viewed under certain special conditions, such as black light and x-ray. Arthur William Devis, who painted The Death of Nelson (1807), another painting which shows a tall dark figure watching the proceedings (in the top left corner), also painted what has widely been considered a lost painting (even though it currently belongs in the private collection of a particular ESPER coordinator), He Watches Us All (1810), which depicts a huge, armless, black figure with burning red eyes and a gash across the middle of the face drawn from an extremely low angle. A second painting, which actually has been lost, is said to contain the same image, only with the figure bent in to look closely at the viewer. In 1915, a newspaper article for the Chicago Daily Tribune showed a photograph of a young girl on a swing set to announce the opening of a new park. In the background of this photograph it is believed that a tall, armless figure can be seen hunched over to look at the girl. The girl appears to be looking over her shoulder with a grimace. Both the girl and the photographer are listed in the Tribune's obituaries within two months of the picture. This is believed to be the first photograph and the first recorded death attributed to the Smiling Man. In 1935 (oddly enough, exactly 20 years after the photograph mentioned above), a study being done at a Harvard laboratory on the results of sleep and sensory deprivation ended in disaster when each of the participants began to complain about seeing a tall, shadowy figure with no arms bending over them and smiling madly directly into their faces. One by one, the participants began to display agitation and self-destructive behavior. The study was called off when one participant ripped his own eyes out and then proceeded to tear at his mouth until his cheeks were torn open in a bloody smile. This participant died of blood loss before the scientists on hand could do anything to help. In the next few weeks, each participant committed suicide, and then the researchers began to do the same. One of the last researchers to perish left behind copious journals recording both in writing and drawing what he experienced, but these journals have been kept under lock and key by Harvard's administration ever since. More recently, during an ESPER mediation of a Horror Cult devoted to the Four Great Ones, reports of Smiling Man activity was reported to have increased to a level previously unrecorded. It is assumed that the excessive darkness and terror and weakening of the walls between dimensions may have given him an opportunity to slip through and become more powerful than ever before.